NetLogic Microsystems, the leader in the design and development of knowledge-based processors, today announced that its NL5000 processors have been successfully incorporated, tested and deployed by Foundry Networks, a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, in its BigIron family of switches and routers. Foundry Networks' BigIron product family is rapidly gaining momentum in leading networks throughout the world. It leads the industry in 10GbE density, performance and reliability, as well as features requested by the world's most demanding networks. The key to knowledge-based processor design is the use of parallel processing and deep pipelining techniques, which allows devices to handle multiple tasks at higher throughput rates. Parallel processing enables multiple layer-4 decisions to be made simultaneously including quality of service decisions, access control decisions for security and low latency forwarding for voice and video packets. This significantly increases performance and provides the ability to process IPv6 packets at 10 gigabit wire-speed. "We are pleased that Foundry Networks, a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, has worked with NetLogic Microsystems' to enhance the value of their BigIron product family by utilizing the processing capabilities of NetLogic Microsystems' NL5000 products," said Martyn Humphries, vice president of marketing for NetLogic Microsystems. "These products demonstrate NetLogic Microsystems' track record of being the first to deliver key features such as parallel search, lowest power, smallest package size and the highest speed and performance in the marketplace, making our products a perfect fit for Foundry Networks' enterprise switches and routers." Foundry Networks' BigIron family is purpose-built for bandwidth intensive enterprise networks to support business and research applications including high bandwidth campus backbone, data center aggregation, cluster and grid computing, converged (voice, video, image and data) communications, storage networking, financial transactions, as well as government, healthcare and university super-computing research projects. Its non-blocking architecture enables network managers to build scalable and highly available network designs. NetLogic Microsystems' NL5000 knowledge-based processors are built on an advanced 7-layer copper 0.13um CMOS logic process with high-speed and low-power transistors. In conjunction with the NL5000 processors' innovative architecture, the high-speed transistors available on TSMC's 0.13um process maximize performance, enabling processor speeds in excess of 300MHz, which is the fastest available for these applications today, while achieving lower power than can be attained with less advanced processes that may have lower speed transistors or more resistive aluminum interconnects. NetLogic Microsystems NL5000 processors are available in production quantities now. For volume pricing information please contact sales@netlogicmicro.com.